Gold Mining - Power Sluicing and Booming in California

[kimdaviscali]

Looks sweeeeeet... I also have the same nozzle that I use here in British Columbia on several of my claims...

[ArizonaBob]

PS...A great big crow bar would rock that bank:) Great vid...I watched it again :)

[GoldenGooseBC]

Good looking set up. What was the total lift to the box - about 6 foot or more? Did you feel that you could go deeper yet? Did you find that there was surging when you were not adding water from the spray nozzle and sucking in more air?

[bearkat4160]

@GoldenGooseBC

Yeh; about 6 feet. Could go maybe 2 more feet deep and keep good suction. The nozzle actually runs well when not sucking pure water as it is designed for dryland dredging. Thanks...

[GoldenGooseBC]

@bearkat4160 thanks for the reply. Do you have an estimate of how many cubic yds you were able to put through on average per hour? Looks like it was nice tight material with the odd cobble thrown in.

Is your 6.5hp running a dredge pump and is that a 1.5" supply line to the nozzle? How much layflat hose before the hard hose feeding the nozzle?

Thanks for sharing, Greg

[bearkat4160]

@GoldenGooseBC - Greg, Not sure how much material per hour, but it would do as much as I could stuff through it. Yes, the 6.5 is my dredge motor and pump with a 2" line out to nozzle. Saw a dude try a 1.5" line and did not work well with a 3" nozzle. On that operation I had 50 feet of layflat to 20 feet of hard hose running to nozzle.

[SWMMI]

I think it's a good idea to have overlapping sluice boxes. Hold them fines.

[kimdaviscali]

@SWMMI I use a Heckler Fabrication 10" wide by 10' long sluice system with an over under (lower section for fines).

[cptcosmo]

Is this claim 15-A? Signed, New 49er Member #2326

[bearkat4160]

@cptcosmo

It is about 5 miles from there, on private property.

[RBKL777]

impressve



[cptcosmo]

When booming, I like to attach a garden hose to the pump hose bib. Keep the spray nozzle at your side, and you can cool yourself off with it, or use the jet spray to break loose hard pack and wash it into the nozzle (micro-hydraulic mining inside your booming hole).

[ArizonaBob]

What a great set up! Great pan at the end too! :)

[ReedLukens]

That was a great video. Do you find that it's better with a narrower box because of the lack of water? A 3"dredge box would usually be at least 14"wide. So I am thinking about a 4"Hydro-force set up and was going to go with a std 16" Proline box and I have a choice between a 6.5HP400 or a 9HP- HP500 both with the 2"outlet on the pump. I have everything from the dredging days except the Hydro-force. I do have a 2" std suction nozzle but would it be called dredging even in a dry bed?

[bearkat4160]

@ReedLukens

Hi Reed, Well my box is made for a 2" or 2.5" nozzle and that is why I entended the length a bit. I would prefer a real 3" sluice. I like what you are planning, sluice matches volume better. Not sure where you are but out here we can't let the water go back into the river, so a 4" would produce a ton of water to have to control...my 3" was hard enough. I think a 9 hp motor would be best for the 4" Hydro-force. Enjoy...!

[ReedLukens]

@bearkat4160 Yea I'm out here in California as well 8°) Re-circulation is my only option from a dry old pond that I can refill but the river is only 50 feet down the trail so that will be easy enough.

Thanks 8°)

[new49ersvideo]

Looking Good! Gotta love that nozzle!

[hunter69denys]

Nice !!!